New Coop Progress Report

I need a new coop. The fancy brooder cage is getting really crowded. Packing the chicks into the cage makes me feel like a conductor.

Doc and I considered my construction skills, the Texas summer, and the urgent need for a new coop. We immediately hired a couple of likely youths to build a coop. They said, "Sure, we can do that in four hours". I told them I needed it done in two days. "No problem".

Off to a good start

I gave them the dimensions, helped them collect the scrap wood, and supplied them with tools. They assured me they knew what they were doing because their other job was building kitchen cabinets from scratch. I watched them carefully and learned a few carpenter tricks, like measuring.

Fancy tile backer cement board floor

After I came back from lunch, I checked on the young carpenters. Uh-oh! According to the plan the cement board should have fit perfectly with a single cut to add an extra strip. They had to cut the cement board in multiple places and nothing seemed to fit right. Did they check to make sure everything was square as they were building the base? Nah, that is the installer's job....

Next day, the plan was to put up the walls, roof, and doors. After much sweating and colorful language, they presented me with their "completed" work.

Looks pretty much like a coop

I paid them and we all went away wiser. *sigh*

Doc and I dismantled the most egregious errors and reconstructed the coop in fits and starts. We fastened the hardware cloth using screws and plumber's hanger tape.

Hardware cloth fastened over treated wood

We eventually enclosed the exterior with hardware cloth. Searching the barn, I found some ancient plywood that could be wrangled into a roof-like structure. Doc carefully guided me up the ladder and onto the roof. With much trepidation, I screwed the plywood to the rafter, actually making it into the wood, thanks to Doc's good eye.

A roof-like structure

By the time we stopped for the night, I was sunburned enough to have a slightly smoky smell. Doc's theory is that the "smoke" was actually my personal aroma made visible.

DIY Tractor and Happy Chickens

It took longer than expected, but the flock has a new tractor. Not a John Deere, though I crave one badly, but rather a DIY masterpiece of PVC pipe, chicken wire, bird netting, shade cloth, and baling twine.

It took a lot of evenings to string together enough time to tie down everything, but the chicken wire and bird netting are secured in place. The tractor is fully enclosed and safe from casual predation. Obviously, chicken wire would not stop a determined squirrel, let alone a dog or a fox.

Doctor Dolittle helped finish the tie job. Then Doc helped move the tractor to a suitably overgrown patch of pasture. We propped up the corners to create a chicken gap and went to fetch the flock.

I opened the gate and Doc called "Chick! Chick! Chick!" to the birds. They looked up at Doc. They looked at the open gate. They looked at each other. Then, as if animated by one tiny chicken brain, the whole flock went berserk.

They squawked and rushed the gate. I bravely ran away.

Doc stood in the passage to the house yard, blocking the way with a hazing pole. I followed with the other pole and kept the flock moving toward the tractor. They eyed us with suspicion, but so long as there was greenery ahead of them they were willing to cooperate.

We hazed them into the tractor and then lowered it to the ground, trapping them inside with the water supply and the greenery. They looked at us. They looked at the greenery. They looked at each other. Then they sprang into action. Oh the chickeny joy!

They clucked and scratched. They ate shoots and leaves. They ate bugs and invisible bits of deliciousness.

Once the flock demolished most delectable parts of that patch of ground, Doc helped me scoot the tractor, and the enclosed chickens, to another section of green pasture. Oh the chickeny joy!

They repeated their ecstatic feasting on the most delectable parts. We watched them wind down and decided to put them back in the chicken pen.

We propped up one end again, hazed them out, and then Doctor Dolittle enticed them into the pen. I closed the gate, we breathed our relief, and then high-fived.

Tractor plus greenery equals happy chickens!

Chickens in new tractor

Ten Minutes of Tractor Paradise

My new tractor is a masterpiece -- a master piece of scrap. It was built from leftover 3/4" PVC pipe, salvaged chicken wire, leftover bird netting, and baling twine.

I started this project thinking it would take a day or two. Now, a week later, I have managed to string together enough spare time sessions to get the tractor secure enough to test.

The weather was threatening a gully-washer and I still had not finished the tractor. So I made an executive decision to tie off a couple spots and just test it out.

I dragged the tractor to the pasture. (Why did I not build it there?????) I carefully propped it up on two supports. I opened the chicken pen and waited for the rush.

The chickens rushed all right. Straight to the back of the coop. They nervously peeked around the corner and gave me the stink eye.

No worries. I waded in with my hazing poles and cajoled, harassed, threatened, and pushed the chickens out of the pen and into the spot directly outside the gate. Surely they would cooperate now.

They scratched in the leaves, clucked happily, gobbled invisible bits of deliciousness, and then headed back into the pen.

Once more I cajoled, harassed, threatened, and pushed the chickens out of the pen. This time I kept pushing until they got the hint. Unfortunately, their enthusiasm took them into the house yard instead of the pasture.

*sigh*

I hazed them out of the yard and into the pasture. They stood next to the open side of the tractor and gave me the stink eye. Once more I cajoled, harassed, threatened, and pushed the chickens. Finally they went inside and I set the tractor on the ground.

Oh the chickeny joy!

They scratched and clucked and grazed and pecked and ate invisible bits of deliciousness. In ten minutes four chickens ate the best things from eighty square feet of pasture. Then they stopped for a drink.

As soon as they finished drinking I propped the tractor bottom up on the supports again and hazed the chickens out into the pasture.

Maybe my chickens forgot where the pen was located during their long incarceration. Maybe the delicious greenery sprouting all over the pasture was too tempting. Maybe they were clever and pretended to be stupid so they could graze more.

It was a challenge to get the chickens into the pen. First they wanted to graze their old pasture. Then they wanted to wander in their old thicket. Then they tried to get into the pen by standing next to the gate and freaking out. One hen tried to find the gate by running around the entire pen perimeter, except for the section by the gate. Three times. Even Mr. Big got frustrated with her.

Embarrassed by their foolish antics, Mr. Big directed the flock into the coop for the night and I gratefully closed the pop door behind them.

Now all I have to do is finish building the tractor.

My Clever Little "Helper"

As I get ready to go on my Odyssey I am making some last-minute improvements to my chickeny world.

The fenced pen around the coop is 40x20. It has no top so the birds, of their own accord, have become free-range chickens. So I bought one of these doodads:

Putting my engineering background to good use, I zip tied flimsy PVC pipe to the coop roof and the fence top for structural integrity. Then I balanced on one leg atop a ladder sturdily planted in randomly placed dust baths and fluffed the bird net over the coop and supports.

My smartest chicken helped with the project. She walked under the net laying on the ground and tried to walk out through the net. Have to commend her for her determination to fit her head, tail, left wing, right wing, left leg, and right leg into a net hole. Her judgement, not so much.

So when I called the chickens in for the night with their evening BOSS bribe, she stubbornly remained out in the yard. I found her patiently sitting on the ground, waiting for me to do my superior-3D geometry thing that us primates seem to be good at. After much wiggling and jiggling and pushing and colorful vocalizations (from both of us), she was free. She casually walked waaaaaay around the net to get to the gate and then into the coop.

Maybe IQ was a good name after all.

Supporting net with PVC

Wrong Roost!

I am really mad at myself right now.

I have been working on my coop, making useful improvements. Until today, that is.

I changed the roost. CHICKEN DISASTER!

The chickens were OK until it was time to sleep. They could not see the old roost, no matter how hard they looked. Eventually they got on the new roost and I left them. When I checked on them a few minutes ago there were no chickens on the roost!

I could not see the chickens no matter how hard I looked. Then it dawned on me, the familiar old elevated nest box is about a half inch higher that the new alien horrible fattening immoral roosting planks.

Every single chicken was piled into the nest box. *sigh*


Update: They were all on the roost this morning once it warmed up. Gave them better weather protection today and tonight they are roosting in style.

Lytle "Screw Ups": Coop Design

My chicken coop is a "masterpiece". As in master piece of scrap. It was cobbled together from recycled building materials before I had any experience with keeping chickens in a coop.

My daily chicken chores have given me an education via frustration. One thing I did right was to build it with screws instead of nails. (I love my DEWALT battery tools). My hammer drill and screwdriver bits got a workout.

First error: Not enough floor space. I took apart the storage "room" with the hammer drill and a crowbar. After the first day of hesitation the chickens were scratching around the "new" section like it had always been there, yay!

Second error: Not enough nest boxes. I added another nest box below the original elevated nest box. I screwed up (heh) walls around it, including a removable entry wall with a little chicken step. Knowing how much they love change, I walled off the original nest box so they would learn to use the new one. They gave me the stink eye and left five eggs in the new box, yay!

Third error: Litter falls out the doors. I cut corners off of short boards to make guide channels. Then I screwed up the guide channels to the door frames and placed baffle boards in the slots to keep litter in the coop and still allow human and chicken traffic. This was a real trial because I had to limbo under the roosts. The whole flock came in to help and it was chaotic for a while. I got mooned by a hen and collected the glare of death from the rooster, but we got everything sorted before it got too dark for me to find my way out of the coop. Now the chicken ladder and people step are both clean, yay!

Fourth error: Poor roost placement. This one was a huuuuuge mistake. The birds like it just fine, but I never want to be trapped behind the roost ever again. Ever! For now, I have removed the old roosts and put 2x4 roosts in the "new" section. This caused a great deal of consternation. They looked everywhere for the old roosts -- in the nest box, on the waterer, outside the window, and under the ladder. It was obviously hiding from them, so they eventually gave up and used the new roost. Well for a little while. When I checked on them again they were all piled into the upper nest box. Brilliant.

Fifth error: Food and water on the coop floor. This was another huuuuuge mistake. I bought a hanging feeder and installed it. Big improvement! The double walled waterer is still on the coop floor and they often poo in it. I plan to hang it up, or else buy a nipple waterer. Argh! Hanging it was a baaaaaad idea.

Sixth error: Poor access to fresh eggs in nest boxes. OK, I am about as good at carpentry as I am at cooking. It is one thing to play with the big boy toys and drill, cut, hammer, and screw things into more or less the right place. It is quite another to make a sturdy, level, square, hinged, safe, weatherproof nest box hanging out the side of the coop. Note to self: learn this soon. Future project.

I am only half way through my list and I have already run out the battery! Oh well, I need to recharge too.




Update: Added bird net to pen. It keeps the formerly-free-ranging chickens confined!

Coop "Expansion"

My ugly frugal chicken coop was improvised from a salvaged piece of porch deck and random construction leftovers. At 4 feet wide and 14 feet long, it is the chicken equivalent of a shotgun shack. With roosts on one end, an elevated nest box in the middle, and a storage room on the other end, it gives fresh appreciation for the word "cozy". All told, 7 chickens share 48 square feet of coop space.

As you can imagine, my daily chicken chores have been exercises in regret:

• Not enough floor space
• Storage door interferes with human inside coop
• Clumsy to put feed in storage
• Clumsy to get feed from can in storage
• Really clumsy to access pine shavings

I give my birds an evening treat to lure them into the coop. I often end up with birds underfoot who are very interested in supervising every detail of my access to the storage can of delicious black oil sunflower seed. Between the birds and the storage door I have nearly fallen face-first in the coop several times. I think I would have to take a Lysol bath if that ever happened! *shudder*

Last night I got mobbed by spoiled greedy chickens and it was the last straw. That storage room had to go!

Today I sent the birds out to their run and demolished the storage room. Now they had an extra roost and 8 more square feet to scratch around for nightly treats. If they subdivide, then each chicken will own a princely 8 square foot piece of real estate.

Donald Trump better watch his back.

Master Piece Coop